


Changing All Tomorrows

by LadyLunas



Series: Glass [8]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), F/M, Gen, People actually talking and solving things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-20 15:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18527572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLunas/pseuds/LadyLunas
Summary: The quest for the Infinity Stones has begun. As Loki heads to Sokovia chasing his nightmare, Darcy reaches out elsewhere in the race to find the remaining Stones before Thanos.





	1. Chapter 1

The incessant drone of the engines should have lulled his mind. Instead, Loki felt every inch of himself attempting to crawl out of his skin. He could not relax and if he could not retain enough strength of mind to exert the control he needed over himself, he knew that rash action would result in injury, if not death. He might not like some of the people he was now accompanying, but he did respect them all. He did not desire their deaths.

Regardless, he sat as far away from Banner as he could. They had bonded over tea and the ability to be overlooked, but the monster hidden inside was not far from Loki’s thoughts. Not now that he was inside a vessel last seen when he was no in control of himself. The memories pressed upon him with a viscousness not seen in a year.

Loki quite deliberately pinched the skin between his thumb and forefinger. The sharp burst of pain cleared his thoughts for a moment. Beside him, Natasha glanced over, but said nothing. She continued on her conversation with Clint in Russian, but had shifted just slightly that her eyes could easier look at him.

Sharp, bitter anger rose at the realization. He forced it down. She meant naught but actual concern for him. Loki took a breath. She was one he trusted, one of them he actually liked. Clint stretched out his arms and legs before pulling out his phone. He thumbed through something, still talking to Natasha about some operation they performed around the Sokovian region a few years back, and passed the phone over.

Loki took it and let out a breath. A pregnant woman was squished between Clint, Natasha, and two children. They were all grinning. He passed the phone back.

“When is the child due to be born?” he asked, also in Russian. No one else on the team understood the language fluently, though he knew Steve had a rough conversational understanding and Banner likely as well. But Banner was piloting and was likely involved in his conversation with Stark about energy fluctuations within robots.

“A few months,” Clint said. “And his name will be Nathaniel.”

Loki glanced at a disgruntled Natasha. She’d folded her arms over her chest. “We were going to name her Natalia.”

“Either is a good name,” Loki said. He did not pretend to understand the relationship the three of them had, but it made them happy and sometimes that is all anyone could ask for. It was all he asked for.

He closed his eyes. So many people wondered why he had chosen a human woman for his bride, one that had so little understanding of the universe, of Asgard. They could not understand why he had fallen in love with what they thought to be such a base creature. But how could he not fall in love with someone who approached life with such glee and shared it with others undeservedly? Her joy brightened his days beyond measure.

Loki let Clint and Natasha drag him into conversation. They soon lapsed into English now that they were not discussing private matters. They wanted to protect their family. Loki could not fault them that. By mutual unspoken agreement, no one brought up the mission. Instead, they began speaking of the book they had all been reading on recommendation by an Avengers fan, a young adult novel regarding police brutality. It opened up an interesting debate in the Tower, one that came up frequently regarding their own responsibilities - largely ones that were self-appointed - to overall social justice. Steve and Stark were often on opposing ends of the arguments, which resulted in several times a week were neither of them spoke to the other. Loki liked to listen as Darcy chimed in with her opinions. His cultural viewpoint were at once too alien and too oppressive to debate major policy in a nation he did not live in. Then there was Sam and Rhodey. Their opinions seemed to matter most of all.

Regardless, the conversation drifted on. The topic was too fraught for the environment. And the engine droned on. Loki picked at his fingernails and tried to breathe. He was able to survive so much worse before. And to find this Infinity Stone and retrieve it from the worst humanity had to offer, he would sit here and try not to relive his worst days. If they recovered the objective, the many sleepless nights to follow would all be worth the pain.

“Right, we’re almost there, so what’s the plan?”

Loki’s jaw clenched. “Aside from the obvious?”

Tony smirked. “What, missing your brother?”

”I do admit,” Loki said slowly. “That his hammer would be very useful in this. But, alas, we must settle for you.”

Tony blinked, then through back his head and laughed. “Good one, Reindeer Games.” Loki rolled his eyes. “Right, then. So we steal a jeep, try not to get noticed, and sneak into a castle in the middle of a city with a large population.”

“Please tell me you aren’t going to be deploying the weird robot army of yours,” Natasha said.

Tony glared at her. “No. Pepper and Maria grounded them after the last time. We don’t want to alert Strucker with another riot.”

“Good,” Natasha said. She tilted her head and smiled. “I told you he’d listen to Pepper,” she whispered to Clint loud enough that everyone could hear.

Steve shook his head. “Can we get back on track?” He nudged the bag containing his shield and some other supplies. “We don’t know what we’re walking into aside from a heavily guarded fortress. Loki, what information do you have?”

”Very little,” Loki said. “Our spies have been unable to infiltrate Strucker’s castle.” Not for lack of trying and not for lack of much more sophisticated technology. But Strucker had done something with civilians and Asgard’s spies could not determine more than that. They had channeled the Infinity Stone and now nothing was predictable anymore.

“At least it’s not snowing,” Bruce said.

“If it were,” Loki said. “I would be able to mask us. But the lack of falling snow means our tracks would be readily detectable even if we were not.”

”Damn,” Bruce said. His hands remained steady on the controls.

Yes, Loki supposed that would have been easier. He would have less time to spend as the monster. But he was not his brother and could not control nature in that fashion. Loki looked down at his pale hands. Not without using the heritage he had long ago rejected.

“All right people,” Bruce said. “We’re here.”

”Showtime.”

Everyone ignored Clint’s comment, too concerned with gearing up as Bruce brought the quinjet in for a cloaked landing. They had the tacit permission of the Sokovian government for this operation, entirely due to Darcy showing up at the prime minister’s residence unannounced and made it clear that Asgard would be acting against the threat to regain what was theirs (as was their right by the treaty signed between the two) and some assistance with that by people who knew how to fight against such a weapon would be lovely. Hence, the Avengers. Strucker knew they were coming; it was impossible to hide. But they were not willing to let the HYDRA leader win. Not this time.

Natasha shivered a bit and activated her suit when the rear of the quinjet opened and a blast of cold air breached the warmth of the climate-controlled aircraft. Loki felt perfectly comfortable in his fighting leathers. This was nothing compared to an Asgardian winter or a surreptitious sojourn on Jotunhiem.

They gathered around Steve for a final briefing as Tony took off to perform an aerial reconnaissance. It would have been easier if either Sam or Rhodey were here, but Rhodey was forbidden from participating due to his active duty service to the United States military and Sam had the funeral of a veteran friend to attend. Loki did not ask and Steve refused to talk about it. That would be a conversation for later.

Tony set down. His faceplate slid back. “Okay, JARVIS says that the defenses are definitely way beyond any other HYDRA base we’ve taken.”

”The scepter is here,” Loki said. He could feel the Stone from here, over miles of distance. The skin on the back of his neck crawled. Something had happened within the previous year; he could no longer feel the Other preying on his mind, but the Mind Stone pulled at the remnants of that connection.

Steve nodded. “Prepare for an all-out assault, then. Strucker won’t give it up easily. And be prepared for weaponry that could be using the Stone’s power.” He glanced at everyone. “Let’s move out.”

Loki took a breath. He wished desperately to not be here, but Thor could not and Darcy refused. She was no warrior to carry the day’s battle. Loki never wished that upon her. Taking someone else’s life for the first time broke a little inside a person. It had been too long ago for Loki to care to remember, but sometimes he wondered why. It was so much easier to cause people to destroy themselves. But not everyone had his penchant and understanding of mischief and so Loki let it be. He still wondered.

Clint took out the HYDRA soldiers at the first checkpoint they came to. Steve set to hot-wiring the jeep. And Bruce remained in an open area, took a breath, and transformed. Loki watched, still and terrified, as the Hulk turned in his direction. Every time. This happened every time and one day it would all go so horribly wrong.

“Puny god,” the Hulk muttered and strode into the woods.

Loki leaned against the side of the jeep and struggled to breathe. Natasha peered down at him. “You good?” Loki forced himself to nod. “Then get in. We’re leaving.”

Loki clambered into the jeep and settled. The vehicle roared to life and took off along the snow-covered track. There was nothing on the radio but a bit of idle chatter. Good. They had not yet been noticed. Loki took a breath and flicked a knife into his hand. He let a grin creep across his face. Let the battle come. He was ready.

The battle started as they all do. The element of surprise gave way to full-out battle. Loki snarled when the first enhanced weapons appeared. Then Steve roared up and away on a stolen motorcycle. Loki kept an ear on the transmissions, but his role remained with Natasha - he was a melee fighter, not a distance one.

Stark reported in that he’d breached the energy barrier surrounding the castle. Loki grimaced. Time for Stark to come back by and literally transport him. If the need had not been so great, Loki would have wasted the energy to force a teleportation over. But there were reports of enhanced humans and he would rather face them with full power and a clear mind.

“This is undignified,” Loki said as he clamored onto Stark’s back.

Stark snorted. “Not how you ever thought of riding me?”

If they had not been in the midst of battle... the thought of eviscerating Stark then and there was too tempting. Loki flexed his fingers. “The thought of riding you has never crossed my mind.”

“Pepper likes it.”

”I had little desire to know that,” Loki managed to reply after his brain whited out for a moment as he tried desperately not to imagine it.

They set down in a courtyard littered with bodies. Loki nodded once in approval. Whether dead or alive, they were no threat at the current moment. Within moments, they were under cover. There would be more inside the castle.

Loki kept watch as Stark had JARVIS begin the scan the castle as they combed through it’s warrens. The passages were not well lit; whatever Stark had done to take out the energy barrier had also taken out the power. Loki did not care. It was light enough for him to see easily. He paused as Stark stopped by a plain stone wall. Then he pushed on it, triggering the hidden doorway to open. Loki remained out of the direct line of fire in case of anyone unpleasant laying in wait. Stark’s armor could handle any attack. But there was nothing.

They both ignored the calls of ‘Enhanced on the battlefield’ as they walked through the dim passage winding its way down into the bowels of the earth. Loki had a dagger in his left hand. His skin began to crawl. This was all so wrong.

Should Strucker not have left guards for his most prized possessions? Should he not be down here with them, supposedly safe and secure from attack? Loki could not shake the feeling this was all a trap. He had planned too many of these ambushes before to ever doubt one was being planned and executed now.

The dark passage opened into a cavernous space. Loki stepped in and immediately halted in sheer horror. Stark kept walking, apparently unaffected by the engineering detritus that filled the room, watched over by the corpse of the Chitauri’s animal transportation hovering overhead.

“Guys, I got Strucker,” Steve’s voice reported over the comms.

Tony’s voice was a tad shaky as he replied. “Yeah, we got... something bigger.”

Loki eyed him from where he stood frozen. So he was not as unaffected as he appeared. Then the suit stopped and split. Tony stepped out and turned to look at Loki. He opened his mouth, then wisely shut it. Loki was now in no mood to take Stark’s jokes.

Tony walked over. “Look, if you need to leave-”

”I am not going anywhere,” Loki said. He forced himself to take a step forward. “And only a fool willingly sets their armor aside in the midst of battle.”

Stark shrugged. “I don’t see anyone else here and JARVIS didn’t find anyone during his scans.”

”They could be hiding,” Loki hissed. “Strucker and his kin have created enhanced humans and weaponry advanced for your species. Do you not think they have not experimented with other technology?”

Tony shrugged and walked away. Loki growled low under his breath and stalked after him. They wandered through the maze of tables filled with half-finished projects. The odd blue glow of the cavern contrasted with the orange emergency lighting in small areas of the space. Tony stopped for a moment to look at a robot in pieces on one of the tables. An expression of half horror, half curiosity flashed across his face. Loki glanced down and dismissed it. The nonfunctional thing was no threat to them. There were more tables off to the side. Tony made a move towards them, then froze.

“Eyes on the prize,” he said into the comms.

Loki already knew. Even if he could not yet see it, he could feel it. The hated energy crawled around his mind, seeking entrance. He squeezed his eyes shut and fought against it. The Stone wanted to be used. It had become accustomed to it. His free hand curled in and the nails bit against his palm. He would not let it use him.

He opened his eyes in time to see a woman stepping away from Stark. Ribbons of red curled around her hands and faded. Loki thought for an instant of the Aether, then remembered the Enhanced. She had done something to Stark. The knife flew from his hand with scarcely a thought.

The woman didn’t see it coming. The knife embedded itself in her thigh. She pitched forward with a shriek and curled around herself. Her hand reached for the blade.

Loki stepped forward. “Only do that if you wish to die,” he said.

The woman moved to look up at him. Her hand was still curled around the hilt of the knife. Loki froze. That was no woman. She wasn’t even as old as Darcy was when they first met. She was young, still an adolescent, could not be an adult as humanity counted years. His entire body tightened with disgust. Strucker had experimented on _children_.

“Why do you care?” Her English was accented, but well said.

“What did you do to him?”

Her lip curled. “I showed him his fears, what he hopes will never come to pass.”

Tony jerked. Sweat covered his face. He didn’t seem to notice Loki or the girl on the floor. He glanced up at the creature overhead, then back to the scepter. A small noise from behind made Loki half-turn. A boy no older than the girl he’d injured stood not three feet away. He stared at the girl, then glared at Loki.

Ah, the other Enhanced, the one from battle. How had he made it here unscathed? Then he moved and the girl vanished. Loki smiled. How interesting. One had speed, one had a gift for energy manipulation. He knew them now. It would be too easy for Asgardian tech to track them. Well, as long as the girl did not remove the knife and bleed to death.

Stark had come completely out from under the spell the girl put upon his mind. He held out his hand and waited. Loki rolled his eyes, but stepped no closer. He was here to confirm that scepter was real and the Infinity Stone still inside.

“Be careful,” Loki said.

Tony shot him a look over his shoulder that clearly called Loki a fool. A gauntlet from his armor slammed onto Tony’s hand. Tony smirked, then stepped forward and swiped the scepter from its holders. He stared at it for a moment as the stone flared and settled into its normal blue.

Loki shuddered. It was time to leave.

Tony stepped back into his armor as they passed by it. He did not let go of the scepter the entire time. Loki trailed Stark, reluctant to approach. The thing gave him, as his beloved wife called them, the heebie-jeebies. Just looking at it brought back all the memories that seeing the Chitauri’s creature had bubbling to the surface. There would be no sleep for him tonight.

By the time they were back into the courtyard, the quinjet had settled. Local responders were cleaning up. They received quite a few nasty looks. The city had apparently taken some fire in the fight. Loki walked into the quinjet and commandeered the radio over Clint’s objections of ongoing radio silence. He sat in one of the jump seats with a bandage around his torso. His hands tapped idly on his legs.

He waited until after Loki had called in the Asgardian aid workers on standby (another thing Darcy had arranged) to tell Loki precisely what happened. “Got grazed by one of those weird guns,” he said. “I’m lucky. If I’d been standing two inches that way, I’d probably have needed a med evac.”

Loki shook his head and settled into the seat beside him. He watched through the open door as Stark placed the scepter into a containment chamber. The strands of energy still connecting him broke. He rested against the seat back in relief.

“I am happy you were not injured further,” Loki finally said. “I do not think any of your family would be pleased if you came home dead.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be fun for me either,” Clint said with a wry smile.

They fell silent as the rest of the Avengers trooped aboard. Natasha took the pilot’s seat over from Bruce. Bruce was exhausted and would likely sleep the entirety of the flight back to New York. Clint was injured and no one else was as fond of flying the craft.

Loki was beginning to come down from the battle high and sudden rush of terror that overwhelmed him. The only thing he desired now was Darcy waiting for his arrival home.


	2. Chapter 2

“You wanted to see me?”

Darcy pulled out the wobbly wire and wood chair from the small table Antonio sat at. He looked up, glasses perched on the end of his nose. He hadn’t had those the last time she saw him. Granted, the last time she’d seen him was when they got into a massive argument about the secrets she had been keeping and they hadn’t talked in over a year. So when she received his oh so very polite message, she said that she would meet up with him. Darcy had no clue what he wanted.

Antonio pulled off his glasses. “I don’t know how you can stand these,” he said. “Why do you wear them, anyway? Doesn’t Asgard have Lasik?”

”Yeah, kinda,” Darcy said. She sat down. “I did it. These are fake.”

“Then why the hell are you wearing them?”

“Because you’d be surprised how many people don’t recognize me when I’m wearing glasses and non-Asgardian clothes.”

Antonio scowled and slammed the lid of his laptop down. He closed the open books sprawled across the table by folding the corners of the pages down. Darcy said nothing, but her hands clenched her lap. She hated when people did that. Probably came from the summer she’d spent in high school volunteering at the library. Easy service hours, kinda fun, not a career path she ever wanted.

“Look, Darcy,” Antonio said. He stopped and rubbed his bloodshot eyes. “Karissa has called me an idiot multiple times over. And I’m still not convinced she’s right. You lied to us for years.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. Her bodyguard sat a table away, thoroughly engrossed in a fashion magazine. He absently lifted a very large cup of tea to sip every now and then. If only she could act so nonchalant.

“We lied for damn good reason,” Darcy said. “Karissa’s forgiven us. Hell, we talk every time I’m on planet.”

”I didn’t know that,” Antonio said. He looked even unhappier, if that was even possible. He lifted a shoulder.

”Let me guess,” Darcy said. “The two of you aren’t talking, either. And Facebook doesn’t count.”

Antonio leaned forward. “You really don’t have the slightest clue how much you hurt us, do you? No, you just gallivanted off with your prince from the sky and now only seem to care about us mortals when you deign to visit your home planet.”

Around them the coffee shop buzzed on. The smell of brewing coffee and fresh pastries filled the air. Darcy wanted to relax into it. Coffee was a luxury on Asgard due to import costs and she never had any place to go like this. She missed it terribly sometimes.

“I don’t understand how you can be so jealous,” Darcy said. She fiddled with the corner of one of his textbooks. Something about business law. “I don’t get enough sleep, I deal with more unhappy people in a day than a normal retail worker, and everyone wants something from me.”

Antonio just stared at her. Darcy sighed and stood. “I am getting myself a coffee and a bear claw. We are going to talk when I get back.”

”Is that an order?”

“No, jerkwad,” Darcy snapped. “You can leave, but clearly you wanted to tell me something or you wouldn’t have contacted me and I wouldn’t have bothered to come.”

Jarl lowered his magazine and watched as she went to the counter to order. The barista tried to flirt with her a bit, but she didn’t respond to the woman. She waited for her order to be delivered with crossed arms. God, she was so angry at Antonio. It hummed beneath her skin. How dare he pretty much accuse her of... well... it was the truth, but why couldn’t he understand?

She returned to the table with the largest bear claw she’d ever seen and the cup of the best coffee she’d had outside the Tower. Antonio had cleared the table of his books. She set her stuff down and reclaimed her seat. She peeled the toes of the pastry off one by one as he just sat there and glared at her.

“You really don’t comprehend just how lucky you are,” Antonio finally said. “I mean, you fall in love with this guy who turns out to be a literal prince and he whisks you away to live the life of luxury in his castle.”

”Lucky?” Darcy was doing her damnedest not to shout at him. “What part of dealing with my husband’s PTSD, my friends constantly under threat of attack, mourning my mother-in-law, getting disowned by my relatives, being called names and worse by my banished father-in-law, disrespected by pretty much everyone I have to work with because I’m just a silly girl or a silly human or both, and knowing that there is a massive threat out there in the universe that I am pretty much helpless to fight against. And you call me _lucky_?” Darcy took a deep breath. “You don’t want my life, Antonio. You want the dream that people think it is.”

He stared at her. “What the hell, Darcy? You’re a fucking princess.”

She blinked. Then dug out her phone and shoved it at him. “That is my desk at the moment, the one here on Earth. The one on Asgard is twice as big and the piles are so massive that I have two other tables holding them.” She took a breath as tears pricked at her eyes. “My mother-in-law died in an attack on the palace three months ago. We’re still dealing with the aftermath and I have to carry on as normal. Like Frigga isn’t dead.” Her voice shook. She was done with this. “You think being a princess is a luxury? Go fuck yourself.”

Darcy snatched her phone back, grabbed her coffee and the remnants of her pastry, then moved to Jarl’s table. She finished eating, not caring the Antonio kept staring at her. Or that some of the other patrons of the coffee shop were, too. None of them were filming, thank goodness. They all went back to their business soon enough.

“Are you ready to leave?” Jarl said when the pastry was nothing but crumbs.

Darcy cupped the empty coffee cup in her hands. “Sure, but I’m ordering another one of these.”

They walked out of the shop after her order. Darcy sniffed the fresh coffee and smiled. “I really miss this.”

Jarl shrugged. “I rather think your husband has the better idea.”

Darcy laughed. Tea snobs. They walked down the busy street to the subway. Darcy sipped her coffee slowly as they waited for the train to take them towards Greenwich Village. It was several stops and a train change away, but she had an appointment that took ages to negotiate. She wasn’t going to miss it because a former friend had pissed her off to no end. The wonderful coffee was at least giving her a chance to calm down.

She took her seat on the train and pulled out her phone. She pulled open her contacts list. Darcy’s finger hovered over Antonio before it stabbed down. Block. Delete. Done.

Jarl let her be. Darcy closed her eyes and rested her head against the train. It didn’t help much at all. She hadn’t realized just how bitter Antonio was. And why he was so hung up on her dream life... he'd been there when they'd started dating.

It had been outside of a sushi place, one of those hole in the walls that looked totally weird on the outside and served the most wonderful food. She’d kissed him and then half-ran off when he was too stunned to say anything. She’d taken two steps away, starting to babble an apology when he grabbed her arm and pulled her in for another kiss. Antonio hadn’t missed the lovey-dovey looks, but... Darcy sighed as she got up to switch trains. She couldn’t think of that time now without regret. If only things had happened differently.

She hadn’t even gotten a chance to ask how Antonio was doing, Darcy realized. He was too bitter to even think that she might still want to be a friend. She let out a breath and pulled her glasses off to tuck them into her bag. Why bother wearing them now? She’d wanted Antonio to look at her and see plain old Darcy, not Asgardian Princess Darcy.

It took them over half an hour to reach their destination and that was just the subway. They’d missed one of the trains due to a construction workaround and had to wait for the next one. Darcy didn’t care. She wasn’t looking forward to this meeting at all.

Hell, she’d almost rather be in Sokovia negotiating the attack against Strucker’s castle. That had required the utmost assurances that there would be no attempts at destabilizing the government, that the Asgardians would provide aid relief to any civilians caught in the crossfire, and that the Avengers would not come into the city at all. It was never mentioned, but Darcy saw the murals and the graffiti. There was so much resentment against Tony Stark and his weapons used in that country’s civil war that she almost told him that she didn’t want him coming along. It was only the knowledge that he was the only person with flight capacity who could be allowed to accompany the attack force that changed her mind. At least he wasn’t deploying that robot fleet again. One riot had been enough for Pepper. Tony still listened to her, at least.

“Breecker Street, right?” Jarl said.

His soft words broke her out of her reverie. Darcy blinked and pulled out her phone. “Yeah, it should be down this way.”

She followed the GPS directions to a normal-looking townhouse. Well, normal looking until you got past the first floor. The ornate picture window dominating the top floor was not normal. Darcy smiled. She recognized that symbol. It was identical to the one on the shop sign on the Asgardian’s Sorcerer Supreme’s herbal shop. Well, the Sorcerer Supreme’s wife’s shop. The Sorcerer herself had a place behind the shop that most people knew nothing of. Darcy did because she was Loki’s wife and the one pretty much doing the queen’s duties as Thor had no wife and Frigga was... gone. Why did Sorcerer Supremes have to be so damn secretive? Anyone else looking at that window would have just seen a quirk in New York architecture.

Right. So she had an appointment. She had every right to be here. Darcy marched up the steps and knocked on the door after tossing her empty cup in the nearest trashcan.

(Even though at night in the dark, she wondered what the hell she was doing. All those glances at her, from childhood on up, the comments made in her first major, everything that happened before and after New Mexico... she had to believe herself to be as worthwhile as she kept saying she was. But it was so hard to shake those comments that she would never be anything more than a silly girl with a great rack obsessed with music and pop culture. Sometimes, she still believed them.)

Jarl casually shouldered in front of her as the door opened. Darcy let him. “We have an appointment with Doctor Strange,” Jarl said.

“Yes, please, come in,” the Asian man who answered said. Darcy smiled at him as she walked in.

The door shut and the man pointed them in the direction of what looked to be a casual sitting area. Jarl moved over to the window to look out.

“I’m Wong,” the Asian man said, shaking Darcy’s hand. “I’m the librarian here. Doctor Strange should be here momentarily. Something came up.”

”Something always does,” Darcy said, completely not surprised. That was just how her day was going. “Let me guess, lunch?”

Wong smiled. “There is a rather good deli just down the street if you need it.”

”Nah, I ate,” Darcy said. She sat and relaxed into her seat. “Tell me, Wong, what does a librarian do around here?”

”Mostly keep people from reading books that they should not,” Wong said with a small smile.

“It worked out in the end!”

Darcy turned to look at the man who’d just come into the room. A red cloak hung over his shoulders. The hems fluttered slowly in a nonexistent air current. The man’s dark hair was streaked with white at the temples and he looked tired.

Darcy stood and held out her hand. “Doctor Strange, I presume?”

The man nodded and shook her hand. “Darcy Lewis, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The multiple scars on his hands and the way he didn’t grip quite right told Darcy at least some of rumours surrounding him were true. The ones that weren’t straight up verifiable fact, anyway. The arrogance, she’d have to see.

“Thanks,” she said. “Nice place you have here.”

It was, if you went for dark, gloomy, and packed with objects. It was almost a museum for sorcerers. Which it kind of was, in a way. Loki would be out of his mind with glee if he ever stepped foot in here.

“Thank you,”Doctor Strange said. He steepled his hands in front of him after sitting in the chair across from Darcy. “I was intrigued that you even knew how to find this place.”

“Your associate in Asgard,” Darcy said. “Believe me, it took three months of wheedling to get it out of her.”

Wong raised his eyebrows. “Why?”

”Something about the independence of each realm and responsibilities of everyone to the greater good of the universe,” Darcy replied. “And I sure as hell wasn’t going to pull rank when I’d rather have her good will and cooperation.”

“Most people don’t bother with that,” Wong said. He glanced towards Doctor Strange, who just looked like stone. “They demand.”

”Yeah, well,” Darcy said. “I generally didn’t have that privilege until recently.”

She glanced around the room again. Jarl hadn’t moved from his spot by the window. Darcy rather doubted anyone could see him from the outside, half-hidden by the deep burgundy curtain as he was, but there were probably also spells assisting with that. The wizards did not want this place found.

She wasn’t going to beat around the bush anymore. Her husband was abroad, probably getting into a fight right about now, and she wanted to be home when he arrived. Hopefully in one piece. And it should not have taken this long to get an interview, but the Asgardian Sorcerer Supreme had mentioned something about changes in the pecking order on Midgard. Darcy sighed. She didn’t have time to ask and she really didn’t care enough to.

“Have you ever heard about someone called Thanos?”

Wong and Doctor Strange exchanged a look. “Who?”

“Oh my god,” Darcy said. “Does anyone ever talk to each other?”

Another look exchanged. Wong leaned forward. “Who would be talking to whom about what?”

Darcy groaned and ran her hands through her hair. “Anyone of your acquaintance on other planets!”

Doctor Strange shrugged. “Unless there is a threat that involves a multitude of worlds, we are honor-bound not to interfere.” He leaned forward. “Speaking of other worlds, why is there a former king of Asgard camped out in Norway?”

”I wouldn’t say camped out as much as residing in a rather nice cabin in the middle of nowhere,” Darcy said with some bitterness. “And that is a matter between the Norwegian government and Asgard.”

“Is it?” Doctor Strange said.

His stone expression hadn’t thawed at all. If anything, it had grown more severe. Oh, great. Another pissing match. What a wonderful day this was turning out to be.

“So I keep a watch list of beings from other realms that may be of threat to this world,” Doctor Strange said. “And for some reason, I felt the need to place Odin on it. Tell me, why is that?”

”Because he’s an asshole lost in rage against the death of his wife that wanted to start a war in vengeance against the meager band of surviving Dark Elves and their families holed up on a dying world,” Darcy snapped.

“And you sent him here?” Wong asked with utter disbelief.

Darcy did not look at Wong. Her concern was the man sitting in front of attempting to pass judgment on Thor’s decision. “There is no other safe place.” Darcy took a breath. “His powers are bound and he can do little harm now to anyone.”

”I doubt that,” Doctor Strange said. “His powers are too great to be bound long and his rage will be vast when he breaks those spells.”

”Well, considering the threat of Thanos,” Darcy said. “We just might break those bonds ourselves.”

”Who is this Thanos?”

Darcy really, truly wanted to scream at every single wizard she met. She buried her head in her hands and moaned. Why? Why was it always her that ended up in these situations?

“A madman,” Darcy said, dropping her hands. “He’s the one behind the Chitauri attack on New York. Has this insane desire to wipe out half the life in the universe because of some stupid, misguided thing about mismanagement of resources. And he wants to use the Infinity Stones to do it.”

Whatever the wizards were expecting, that was not it. Wong muttered something in Chinese and stood. He made a gesture with his hands and stepped into what looked like a circle of fire hanging in midair. It closed behind him.

Doctor Strange remained frozen in his chair. “He wants to wipe out half the life in the universe using the Infinity Stones?”

”I did say that, yes,” Darcy snapped, way beyond exasperated and not afraid to show it.

“Tea?”

She blinked at the non-sequiter, then at the cup sitting on the table in front of her. “Sorry, that’s more my husband’s style.”

She promptly smelled coffee. Darcy picked up the mug, slightly impressed. Loki had never done that, saying it was too much of an effort to do it on a normal basis. For him, maybe it was. He wasn’t a Sorcerer Supreme. Whatever that meant in the grand scheme of things among magicians.

Wong returned in the same ring of fire, carrying a leather-bound book. He set it on the table and took his seat. A cup of tea appeared in front of him. Wong shot Doctor Strange a small smile and took a small sip. Darcy decided to give the wizard the same courtesy. Not as good as the coffeeshop’s, but still decent.

“If this Thanos collects the Infinity Stones,” Wong said as he turned the pages in the book. “The universe will bow to his will without question. He must not lay his hands on them.”

Darcy took a breath. “That’s why I’m here. Asgard has the Space Stone. The Nova Corps has the Power Stone. The Collector has the Reality Stone. The Avengers are currently going after the Mind Stone. Which leaves Time and Soul. So I’m here to ask your help. If we can’t at least find them, maybe you can. And help protect them.”

The wizards stared at her. She was getting real tired of that reaction. Why, why, why did no one talk to each other?

Doctor Strange took a deep breath. “It’s funny how so many ended up on Earth,” he said softly. “Space, Mind.... Time.”

Darcy blinked. “Excuse me?”

Doctor Strange made a motion with his hands. The swirly golden amulet on his chest opened to reveal a green glow. It shut again almost immediately. “Time.”

“Oh holy shitballs on a stick,” Darcy said. She set her mug of mostly untouched coffee down before she spilled it on herself.

“We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives,” Wong said, moving the open book away from her coffee.

Darcy took a breath and nodded, trying desperately to get some of her composure back. She rather thought she was failing. “Then... I guess my work here is done. Thank you for seeing me.”

”Can you tell us anything more about this Thanos?” Doctor Strange said.

“He’s a madman,” Darcy said. “He’ll invade a planet, take what he wants, and kill half the population. There’s a group of assassins that work for him, call themselves his Children. The Black Order.” Her hands tightened into fists. “Thanos raises them from children and if he can’t raise them he’ll create them. It’s what he wanted to do with Loki. I don’t know how to stop him. No one does.”

Doctor Strange stood. “Can we call on your husband? I think we need to have a talk with him.”

Darcy stood. This conversation was pretty much over. She had what she came here for. Information. And if she passed on stuff that they needed to know, hey, bonus. At least she was trying to communicate. She had the sneaking suspicion they were going to need everyone they could stop Thanos.

“He doesn’t talk about his time with the Chitauri or Thanos,” Darcy said. “So I can’t promise anything.”

The wizards nodded and showed her and Jarl the door. Darcy thanked them for seeing her and left with her guard leading the way. She sighed as she walked down the steps and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets.

Jarl turned to look at her. “Where are we heading now?”

“Let’s get back to the Tower,” Darcy said as they walked down the street to the nearest subway station. “I have had, like, the worst day.”

The conversation with Antonio would linger for days. The knowledge that there was only one Infinity Stone left to find... that would haunt her forever.


	3. Chapter 3

The Tower shone against the night sky. Loki opened his eyes when the engines cycled into hover mode. He had drifted into a light doze against his will during the journey, the engines lulling him to the edge of sleep. He rolled his neck in an attempt to rid himself of the stiffness in his shoulders, but gave it up as futile. A hot shower would be of most use now and he would stretch after before crawling in to bed to rest beside his wife.

His attention could not help but be drawn to the containment case strapped into a cargo well in the back of the quinjet. A faint blue light shown from the viewing window. Loki shifted his gaze to his companions. Bruce remained steadily asleep and Clint was snoring. One arm was wrapped over his bandages. Steve was talking with Natasha about something quietly in the cockpit. And Stark.... well, Stark was staring down at his tablet with a furrow between his eyebrows. Every now and again, his eyes darted to the containment vessel.

Loki gave no notice that Stark’s observances had been witnessed. Instead he stretched as best he could strapped into the seat as Natasha made the announcement they were descending to land. Everyone woke with varied grumbles and stretches. Upon landing, everyone unbuckled and made their way out the back.

Tony, of course, was the one to carry the scepter out. Loki passed by and brushed his fingers against the case, laying a small spell. If it was opened, he would be alerted immediately. But even Stark looked exhausted and Loki suspected there would be no experimentation tonight. JARVIS would be left to keep an eye on the scepter and it would have to do for now.

Tomorrow, however, tomorrow Loki would take the appropriate precautions. He sighed. Where could it be safely kept when there were still two Stones left to find? And once located, where would those be held safe? He was too tired to think on the conundrum.

Arms wrapped around his wait. He held Darcy for a moment, then looked down at her with a smile. She looked back at him with a weary face. He pulled her close again.

“We are all fine, beloved,” he said in his native language. How often they switched to it here. It was more comfortable sometimes for them. To speak and have no one understand.

“I had a shitty day, you had a shitty day,” Darcy said. “You find the Stone?”

Loki gestured towards Tony, who clutched the containment box in his arms. “Yes.”

Darcy leaned against him. “We really need to talk. Inside. Alone.”

”All right,” Loki said. He kept his arm wrapped around her shoulders, disguising his weariness. She would never let on how he leaned against her as they went down to the floor Tony had set aside for any visiting Asgardians. Namely, himself, his wife, and his brother. Though Thor’s visits had always been infrequent, it was a mark of how Stark cared about those he considered his friends.

Darcy activated their own personal security settings the instant they stepped inside. It was a precaution they’d undertaken since beginning their pursuit of the remaining Infinity Stones. JARVIS only answered to Stark and although they relied upon him for the basic security of their living quarters, Asgardian technology was such beyond that of Midgard's they refused to use anything else no matter how much Stark complained.

Loki retreated to the shower. The hot water beat down around him. He leaned against the cool tile and let the tight muscles in his back and neck relax enough that he felt like moving would creak or break nothing with the tension. He stepped back to the main living area to find Darcy had made hot cocoa for both of them. He left the mug on the side table for a moment and drew her to sit beside him on the couch. She set her mug down and leaned into him. They remained like that for a while, taking comfort in each others’ presence.

“How was your day terrible?” Loki finally asked. He had little desire to bring up today, but he knew he eventually must. His plan to recover all the Infinity Stones have them safeguarded could not work properly if he did not entrust the knowledge to someone else who could carry on the work should the worst happen.

Darcy shifted. “Antonio and I got into a massive fight in the middle of a coffee shop and I eventually told him to fuck himself and left.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Is he still aggrieved that we-”

”He loathes the fact that we lied to him for years and is eaten up by jealousy that I’m married to what he considers a fairy tale life.”

Loki stared at the top of his wife’s head. She was drinking some cocoa and readily refused to look at him. Still, the information was unexpected. “He what?”

Darcy twisted to meet his eyes. “He just... wouldn't listen.” She heaved a great sigh. “So I blocked and deleted him. God, I think he hates me now.”

Loki pulled her closer. “If he cares for you so little, then pay him no mind.”

“Five plus years of friendship isn’t easy to walk away from, Loki,” Darcy said. “He wasn’t one of the ones who left when you were... missing.”

Loki’s jaw clenched. He had to take a few short, sharp breaths before getting his thoughts out of the tailspin her words sent them on.

“You still talk to Charday and Karissa,” he finally said.

“Yeah,” Darcy said. She set her empty mug on the table and leaned back into him. He ran his a hand up and down her arm in a small act of comfort. “They understood.” She fell silent for a moment. “But that wasn’t the worst part of the day. Loki, I’m terrified. There’s only one Stone left to find and I... if we found them so easily, so can Thanos. And he knows what he’s looking for.”

Loki’s hand stilled. “You found one today?”

”The wizards-” Darcy’s voice smiled. “They called themselves the Masters of the Mystic Arts. Well, they swore an oath to protect the Time Stone. And yes, they actually have it.” Her voice shook. “I saw it.”

Loki sat utterly still for a brief, horrible moment. Only one left. He bent around Darcy and pulled her in tight. He was not prepared for this. His thoughts spun along the threads of the galaxy, to the rumors of Thanos and the knowledge of the planets he’d already ravaged. Of the threat the Black Order. Of what any of them would do to Darcy in order to hurt him because he had failed their master so utterly. What they would do to her would make his time spent with the Chitauri feel like a leisure trip. And he would be forced to watch, bound and helpless.

He forced himself to stop those thoughts. Though they would return tonight, after Darcy had fallen asleep, when he himself could not and just had to stare into the black nothingness of night. Loki had more immediate concerns than the darkness in his mind.

“If the wizards can protect the Stone,” Loki said. “Then we have little choice but to leave it in their hands. I dare not bring another into this place while one is here.”

Loki could not tell whether the stirrings in his mind were the Stone trying to work his magic or just the memory of them. He knew it was safe in its containment and no one had yet to force it open. But that time would come. No one could resist that much power for long and Loki had his misgivings already. Stark. And those Enhanced children. Each Stone brought with it problems to solve.

“What are we going to do with this one?” Darcy asked. She muffled a yawn.

“Find a suitable guardian,” Loki said. “And no one in this tower qualifies.”

“Dammit,” Darcy said around another yawn. “Can we finish this in the morning? Please?”

Loki glanced at the nearest clock. “It is morning.”

Darcy wiggled enough that she could poke him in the ribs. “Morning as in after I wake up after at least six hours of sleep.”

He wished he dared to sleep. But nonetheless, they crawled into bed together. Loki curled around her after braiding her hair back. He loved toying with the long strands. It relaxed her, calmed her, made her smile. For that alone he would do it.

Darcy squirmed out of his grip slightly and shifted until she was comfortable. Her soft breaths soon evened out and deepened. Loki played with the end of the braid as he watched her sleep. Eir told him over and over when he was first rescued that everyone responded to trauma differently. Darcy, no matter the hardships she had been through over the past year and a half, never seemed to let them take over her mind the way his had. He envied her for that.

Perhaps it was time to seek help again. The fight with Thanos was fast approaching. It was no coincidence the Stones were being found after all this time. If he was not in his right mind, it would be all too easy for Thanos to prey upon him. Next time he was on Asgard, he would ask Eir.

Loki loathed being dependent on drugs. He had stopped the medicine as soon as he felt it was necessary after returning to Midgard after the Chitauri attack. His body had recovered and Loki did not believe he needed anything else. He dropped the braid back to the bed and pulled the sheet farther up to keep Darcy warm. The medicine would dull the dark thoughts, enable him to sleep, and maybe that was reason enough to take it.

He let the weariness in his body drift him off. Maybe, perhaps, the nightmares would not come. Maybe the exhaustion dragging him into sleep would hold them off. He rather doubted it. Yet he could not stave it off further. He let his head rest on the soft pillow and moved closer to his wife. Please let it be enough.

 

“-hey, we defeated an alien invasion or yay, we recovered the scepter or we successfully shut down another HYDRA base.”

Loki stumbled into the middle of an argument when he woke far too early from a restless night’s sleep and, unwilling to disturb Darcy, went in search of distraction. He emerged onto the main floor and found Steve and Tony by the bar. Plates of breakfast went untouched by either. Loki eyed them for a moment, debating whether food would help or hinder his twisting stomach. Then the words caught up with his nightmare-addled brain.

“Tony, I just don’t think-”

“Reindeer Games!”

Loki flinched at Tony’s words. It was far too early to have to deal with a man who looked like he hadn’t slept either and was functioning solely on the amount of caffeine he’d imbibed. Tony held up his hands. He’d noticed. Damn.

“You up for a party?”

”Why should I have any desire to celebrate?” Loki said. The food was looking more and more appealing. He did not remember eating anything aside from the hot cocoa with Darcy last night.

“Because we captured Von Strucker? Found a stolen Infinity Gem?” Tony shrugged. “Either of those sound like good ones for me.”

”And yet you neglected to mention the upcoming anniversary of your defeat of the Chitauri,” Loki said as he stole Tony’s plate.

“Didn’t think that would be your thing,” Tony said with a quirk of his mouth. He stole his breakfast back and defiantly stuck the fork he’d been holding into the mound of eggs. Given Tony’s penchant for smoothies in the morning, someone else must have cooked. It was most likely Steve.

Loki sighed. He was far, far too tired to deal with this madman right now. “It is not.”

“So I’m inviting a bunch of Steve’s World War Two buddies,” Tony said, rattling on. “And Pepper’s already okayed it given she’ll be out of town all next week. You want to invite anyone?”

”Tony-”

Too late. Loki already walked away. He ran his hands over his face and collapsed onto one of the couches. The renovations, all chrome and plate glass, looked different enough from his first arrival at the tower that he was comfortable enough relaxing here. The memories did not come as quick. But after last night, even the associations crawled up his skin.

“Eat,” Steve said. He dumped the second full plate on the coffee table in front of Loki. “JARVIS warned me you were up. And I’ve already eaten. Had a bagel with lox after my run.”

Damn JARVIS to the boiling hell of Muspelheim. He glared at Steve. Steve looked as if he didn’t care. Loki sighed and picked up the fork. “I do not need to be smothered in comfort.”

”Frankly, Loki,” Steve said. “You look like you couldn’t even figure out how to turn a stove on.”

Damn his friends for caring about him. Loki quit arguing and began to eat. Tony brought his plate over. They ate in silence, all three of them. Well, Steve drank a mug of coffee and nibbled on a banana. And the food helped. Loki’s hands stopped feeling like they were about to begin to shake.

“What are your plans for the day?” Steve asked as Loki pushed the remnants of the eggs around his plate.

“Avoiding Stark and his plans for this party of his,” Loki said. “Darcy and I need to go over the results of yesterday’s raid.”

”Do you ever stop working?” Tony asked. His fork accidentally scraped against the plate. They all winced at the sound. “Sorry.”

Loki set his plate down and decidedly suddenly that gravity was working far too well and he would not move from the couch for the time being. He shifted so he was stretched out across the full length of it. “I cannot afford that luxury.”

But the couch was extremely comfortable and there was a pillow beneath his head. He closed his eyes for what felt like a second. He needed to gather his thoughts and his strength to face the day. He opened them to see Darcy sprawled across the couch opposite it reading a romance novel. Her taser sat on the coffee table. The direction of the sun was much different. And exhaustion no longer gnawed on his bones.

“How long was I asleep?” he asked.

Darcy blinked and glanced over. Her confused face eased into a smile. “What did you say?”

”For what amount of time was I asleep?”

She shrugged a shoulder and stuck a finger in the book to mark her place. She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “From what Steve said when you conked out, about five hours.” Darcy tilted her head. “I think you needed it.”

Loki acknowledged her point with a dip of the head. That was quite true. Nonetheless, it was not the plan he had for the morning. “What are you reading?”

Darcy looked at her book and laughed. “I found it stuffed into the random shelf this morning. I figured I deserved a break. It’s not like the techs have finished going through the information from the raid and sent us anything important yet.” She made a face. “And Tony’s going off about this party he wants to have and was being quite irritating.”

”Is that why you brought your taser out?”

Silly question. Of course that was why. At least Darcy gave him dignity and only answered with a roll of the eyes. Loki stretched out as she returned to reading the book. It felt odd to be at leisure. He had not allowed himself that luxury since... since his mother died.

The ease Loki felt flew away and sent a very large thread of guilt through him. What would she say when there was such important work to be done and him frittering away the hours? If he was being honest with himself, and he sometimes had to be. Well, being honest with himself and being honest with other people were two very different concepts and one was much more fun than the other. One ended with him laughing. The other ended up with Darcy giving him a taste of her temper. He much preferred the former. So, in the end, he acknowledged that Frigga would have preferred he have some rest and leisure time. She always made room for it at the end of her day. It was in no way disrespecting her or her memory or the importance of the work being done to take some time away.

He sat up slowly, well aware that he’d been laying still for several hours and was a tad stiff. Darcy remained absorbed in her story. Loki watched her for a moment, savoring the quiet, then stood. There were things he desired to fetch from their suite.

They spent the remainder of the early afternoon ensconced in the common room. Oddly, no one seemed inclined to disturb them. Natasha wandered in briefly and curled up in her favorite corner with a book of her own. She left after reading what could only be a few chapters after her phone dinged.

Darcy shut her book with a groan. Loki’s pen stilled on his page. He looked over as she rolled her neck and shoulders. “Are you hungry?”

Loki said so. They went back to their suite and cooked dinner. Loki breathed in the calm of the day, suspecting the next one would not be as peaceful. Unfortunately, he was correct.

 

Loki woke with the dawn. He sat up in bed and pushed his sleep-matted hair out of his eyes. Darcy lay curled around a pillow. Her left arm hung off the bed. The sight struck him with a sudden melancholy. Loki shuddered and moved slowly enough not to disturb his sleeping wife as he left the bed. He tucked the blanket back around her and left the room. He shut the door behind him. Let her sleep. He did not always need or desire her presence when trapped in his bouts of melancholy.

He started a kettle on the stove and tapped his fingers idly on the counter until it was boiling. He poured it into the waiting pot and set some leaves to steep. Peppermint to soothe his stomach, chamomile for calm, and a pinch of spices for taste. Loki breathed in the calming scents as he took his full mug - he had used the largest one available - to sit on the sofa and watch the sun rise over the city.

The city woke slowly and all at once. Even from this high in the air, the muted sounds of traffic floated along with the ever-present hum of the wind around the building. New York shown silver instead of Asgard’s gold. But he could see around the skyscrapers of the immediate area to the horizon beyond. Only a few clouds stretched across the sky. It would be a clear day.

New York was not Asgard, but the sight soothed him just the same. Out there were people with no knowledge of the coming horrors. Darcy hated their lack of knowledge, but Loki had to be more pragmatic than Darcy’s optimism they could defeat Thanos. Why should they bother preparing for something they had even odds of not surviving? He sometimes envied their lack of knowledge.

Loki glanced at the notebook containing the poetry he’d been working on yesterday. He was in no mood to do so now. Loki knew the odds were against him should he and Thanos ever meet again. And he would not be so lucky as to be consigned to oblivion. No, his failure to complete his mission, regardless of how he’d been assigned to it, would require a personal touch. No Infinity Stone would wipe him from existence.

He shuddered. His thoughts came too close to the dreams he had suffered that night. Loki lifted the warm mug to his head and rested against it. The warmth helped only a little. He set the mug down and wrapped up in the wool blanket draped over the back of the sofa. It smelled of Darcy.

He remained like that for an unknown time, trying to focus on anything aside from his nightmares and muddled memories. Then a slight chime sounded. Loki dug his way out from the blanket and picked up the tablet on the coffee table.

One of the Asgardian techs who had assisted in the raid was on the communication channel. Loki tapped the icon. The woman smiled, but she look as tired as he felt.

“I apologize for contacting you so early, your highness,” she said. “But we all felt this was important enough to interrupt.” She licked her lips. “We came across reports of experimentation on children. Only two survived and they have been granted special powers.”

”How old are these children?” Loki asked. His free hand tightened around the folds of the blanket. 

“As humans count the years, seventeen,” the tech said. “And we recognized them only because we have record of treating them for injuries. They claimed they were hit in the fighting.”

”I threw a knife at the girl,” Loki said. “She was interfering in the mission.”

The tech nodded. “We’ve been tracking her ever since we healed her. The healers were concerned that she lacked proper control of her abilities.” She took a breath. “This would not normally be brought to your attention at this stage, but there is a concern. We’ve tracked them to the city of your residence and do not think it out of the realm of possibility that they are planning an attack in revenge.”

Fantastic. Loki glanced out the window over the teeming city of humanity. They could be anywhere. Millions resided in this area. “Send me everything you have.”

“Yes, your highness,” the tech said. “I am uploading now.”

The information appeared in a box on his screen almost instantly. What Stark wouldn’t give to have access to such technology. But it was Asgardian and not for his eyes. He might actually have a chance of understanding how it worked, regardless that humanity did not actually have the practical knowledge of quantum-state computing for everyday use. Loki barely understood it himself. His knowledge was far more esoteric.

“My thanks,” Loki said. After a few more brief courtesies, the call ended.

Loki sat the pad on the table and finished the bit of cold tea left in the bottom of the mug. He sent the mug floating to the kitchen and picked up the tablet again. The information absorbed him. He knew nothing else until the bedroom door opened and Darcy banged into the frame.

She walked into the room rubbing her shoulder. Her braid had mostly come out. She looked to have had a restless night’s sleep as well. Or perhaps, given how tightly she had been clutching that pillow, it had begun after he left the bed.

Darcy wandered out to the sofa after a detour to the kitchen and a brief run of the microwave. The scent of the tea he’d made came from the mug she held. But she was sipping from it. Loki’s eyebrows raised. She so rarely drank tea.

She waved off his obvious concern. “It’s too early for coffee. And I’m lazy.”

Loki also resisted - barely - the urge to point out that the coffeepot was waiting to be washed. It sat on the counter next to the sink. It had been there since before he left on his successful attempt to reclaim the scepter and the Infinity Stone attached to it. Loki probed the still-active spell guarding the container. Nothing. No one had touched it since it was placed in Stark’s lab. It was the safest place in the tower aside from Loki’s suite. And he had little desire for that stone to be anywhere near him. Even trapped in a box, the thought of it sent shivers down his spine.

He handed her the tablet, letting the issue of what Darcy felt like drinking this morning drop and pushed his darker thoughts away. It was not much of an issue. But the smallest changes had him riding the edge today. His nerves felt all too fragile. He needed a distraction and what the tech sent though certainly qualified. “You need to read this.”

Darcy took the tablet and skimmed the page that Loki had opened for her. She shifted to a more comfortable position and sipped from her mug as she read it again. And again. Her thumb moved as she flicked between pages.

“Dammit,” Darcy said. “I thought we’d have more time than this.”

“As did I,” Loki said. “We need to find them.”

”And do what?” Darcy said. She took another sip of tea. Her nose scrunched. “They’re just kids. Teenagers.”

“That is my thought,” Loki said softly. “Even in Asgard, we don’t raise children to be soldiers. And we do not ever experiment on them. Even if they are foolish enough to volunteer.”

No matter what else, even with their strict traditions about warrior training and roles and responsibilities, Asgard had this right. No matter their station in life, children were allowed to be just that. Loki’s hands flexed on the blanket he remained ensconced in. If he knew of anyone who hurt their children... Loki took a deep breath. He could hardly haul Strucker before the Asgardian court of law and have him tried for child endangerment and abuse. Let Midgard’s laws do the same. Even if the sentence would be lighter. They still had jurisdiction over the man. If they chose to try him those crimes. And if he somehow managed to find himself safe from the law, well, Loki had no patience or concern for those who hurt children. Asgard had few enough of them. And every single one was precious. He would make the proper arrangements for such a thing, just in case. Justice was necessary.

Darcy set the tablet and her empty mug down. Her eyes were lost in thought. But a smile tugged at the side of her mouth. Something was brewing behind those lovely eyes.

“Everyone thinks they’re plotting revenge, huh? Then I have an idea.”

“Should I be concerned?” Loki said with a smile. Her thoughts aligned with his on mischief. And if they could pull this off without anyone the wiser... the expressions on the Avengers faces would be utterly priceless. And with everyone distracted by this party Stark was planning for the next month... no one would notice at first when they acted. Not until it was too late.

She smiled back. “Perhaps. The techs say they’re here in New York. What if we find them first?”


	4. Chapter 4

Saying it was one thing. Finding the twins was another. Sure, the techs could tell they were in New York, but New York had several million people. And the twins weren’t the only Enhanced in the area. Sure, their abilities were a bit more unique given exactly what had given them those powers in the first place. But that didn’t mean it was any easier for them to be found. One address one day, another the next. Darcy was starting to suspect they were either sleeping in the street, sleeping in homeless shelters, or the girl using her mental powers to trick people into giving them hotel rooms for the night. Or Airbnb, but she really wasn’t sure how much cash the twins had on hand.

And no amount of digging through Strucker’s files had left any clue on how to contact them. Darcy leaned forward and rested her head on the desk. The closer they got to Stark’s party, the more Loki withdrew into himself and the faster they needed to find the twins. Because if they were plotting revenge, that would be the easy way to do it. Because all the girl would have to do was to work her mojo on some unsuspecting guest and she’d have immediate access as a plus one. Which would just be awkward, given the twins’ status on the Tower’s Do Not Enter list.

Darcy lifted her head from her desk. She tapped one finger idly on the wood, then pushed her chair back and stood. She needed to take a break. Her stomach rumbled. Correction: she needed lunch.

She left her office and walked down the carpeted hallway. Elaborate golden artwork flowed along the corridor walls. It was designed to be impressive and reflective of Asgardian knotwork, but to her it resembled a river. There were a handful of people waiting in the ambassador’s waiting room. Darcy smiled at the receptionist and asked her if she wanted anything from the deli down the street. The woman had a fondness for its matzo ball soup. So did Darcy, but she was up for something more solid today.

After stopping by a few more offices, Darcy headed out with the orders. Jarl sighed as she left the embassy. She didn’t do it often, but the ladies she bought lunch for were the ones that had treated her nicely during her stint in the basement as a contractor. Most of her former coworkers had long since left, replaced by new ones. Every government wanted someone who’d been involved with the Asgardians in some respect by their equivalents of the State Department. Made it easier not to have terrible cultural gaffes.

After placing the orders, Darcy and Jarl lounged by the counter. She liked people watching and didn’t have a chance to do it near enough. If she and Loki lived elsewhere... but the Tower was the safest place for Loki to reside should Thanos send anyone after him. The people that lived there actually had a chance to defend themselves. And Darcy despised the giant mansions. She already lived in a palace. She didn’t want to live in something that failed at resembling one. And smaller spaces reassured Loki. Less chance of someone hiding in wait to ambush him.

Darcy placed her hand on Jarl’s arm. He turned to her. “What’s wrong?”

She smiled. “Do you see that redhead wearing the black baseball cap in the corner with her back to the wall?” Darcy glanced in the woman’s direction and tilted her head to look out from under her eyes. The woman blushed and looked away. “Go give her my number.”

Jarl stiffened. “That’s one of the twins.”

”Yeah,” Darcy said, angling herself so that her boobs were on best display. “Funny how there are no coincidences in our life.”

“I do not find it funny at all,” Jarl said. He took the piece of paper Darcy had scribbled her number on and walked over, the picture of all resigned amusement.

Darcy watched as they chatted for a bit. The girl laughed and took the paper Jarl handed her. His hand brushed against the cuff of her coat. Jarl walked back to Darcy, a smile twitching on his face. They picked up their order and headed back to the embassy.

“Well?” she demanded.

Jarl finally smiled, though he did not seem to be that amused. “She said she was flattered, but not interested. She also said she’d pass the number on to her brother. You were more his type.”

Darcy smiled as they went into the embassy and began passing out their various lunches collected. “Good. At least we’re getting somewhere.”

She returned to her office to eat her pastrami on rye in peace. Idly, she checked her social media accounts. Her private ones that weren’t managed by the PR team. Nothing new and important that needed attention. Darcy made a mental note that there was a gallery opening up with some of Charday’s photographs, but it was all the way in San Francisco. And wasn’t for another two months. Who knew what her schedule was going to look like then? She sure couldn’t plan that far in advance right now. Still, she put it on her calendar.

With a sigh and some stretching, Darcy tossed the waste from her lunch into the bin and went back to work. Hopefully something would come of the phone number. And of the tracking device Jarl had placed on the girl.

Her phone rang on the way home. Darcy pulled it out of her purse. She didn’t recognize the number, but given she didn’t give it out to anyone but a few select people... “Hello?”

“Hi, this is Pietro,” a man said on the other side. He sounded nice, with a definite touch of accent. “You had your brother give my sister your phone number today?”

“Oh, hi,” Darcy said. She shot a thumbs up at Jarl. “Yeah, sorry about that. It was meant for your sister. But I’m into guys, too.”

“Ah,” Pietro said. “So if I asked you out tomorrow for dinner, you would say yes?”

“Depends on where we were eating,” Darcy said, only feeling a tad guilty that she was leading him on. And, god, he was so young. “There’s a fantastic place up on Fifth that serves great coffee and decent food.”

“Obahn’s?” Pietro said. After Darcy’s confirmation: “About six?”

“Sounds like a date,” Darcy said.

“Wonderful.”

Darcy hung up and grinned at Jarl. He shook his head. “At least your husband knows what you’re doing. I do believe he is enjoying this trickery.”

Darcy nodded and tucked the phone back into her purse. “He hasn’t had the opportunity to indulge in mischief lately. I think he misses it.”

They walked into the Tower lobby and went straight for the private elevators tucked behind locked doors. JARVIS recognized their biometrics and let them in. Darcy leaned against the side of the elevator. Jarl hadn’t responded, but that didn’t make what she said any less true. He would be delighted by the invitation to dinner tomorrow.

 

Darcy dressed completely normally. Oversize knit sweater, favorite hat, jeans. She wasn’t trying to impress the kid. Ew. He was seventeen and she was almost twenty-five. Eww. She wanted to be comfortable for this trap she was springing.

She walked in and saw the kid sitting at a table near the corner of the coffee shop. Darcy smiled, ordered a very nice sandwich and a small Americano. She usually didn’t like strong coffee late in the day, preferring a decent night’s sleep (which was why she had yet to admit to Loki she was the reason his plain black tea stash was dwindling... it was actually kind of soothing once she got past the taste factor). But she suggested this place and it was known for really good coffee and really good food. Needed to have it to compete against Starbucks.

The kid grinned and stood as she approached. “Are you Darcy? I’m Pietro.”

”Yeah, I’m Darcy,” she said. Good kid. His eyes had only darted down to her chest once. 

They sat and made meaningless chatter for a bit. Then Darcy’s personal protective spell went off. She stopped talking about something stupid she’d done as a freshman in college (and pretending that it happened last month) and straightened slightly. She didn’t turn her head or move from her chair.

“If you do any kind of mind magic on me,” Darcy said softly and quite clearly. “You will not make it out of this restaurant alive.”

The sister slid into view, red fire sparking and diminishing around her hand. “How did you know I was there?”

”For the same reason you agreed to this charade,” Darcy said. She took a sip of her coffee. “You’ve been following me for three days.”

The girl pulled over an empty chair. She sat down in it and flicked her dark red hair over her shoulder. She tilted her head. “And why should I believe a friend of Tony Stark?”

Bingo. Darcy took another sip of coffee. “We’re not friends.” She laughed suddenly. “I’m young enough to be his daughter! We’re allies. Have similar goals.”

“You live in his tower,” Pietro pointed out. He’d continued eating dinner. His sister glanced over at his plate with a brief longing expression, but didn’t reach out to take anything.

“Yeah, we generally considered it safer,” Darcy said. “Have this thing about endangering people who aren’t involved in protecting the planet against a lunatic who wants to destroy half the galaxy.”

“What are you talking about?” Pietro had frozen with a chip halfway to his mouth.

“I’m guessing Strucker never mentioned someone named Thanos?”

The girl snorted. “You think he told us anything? We were his pets. We were the successful ones. So tell me, Darcy Lewis, if you are so convinced this Thanos is such a threat to Earth, why have you allied yourself with a man who seems bent upon destroying it?”

Ugh, Darcy really didn’t have time to spend on this. “No offense, but I don’t even know your name.”

“Wanda.” She looked like she didn’t believe Darcy at all. Which was a good thing, because Darcy had totally been lying about not knowing her name. Hell, Darcy probably knew more about what Strucker had done to the twins than either of them knew.

“That is not a conversation we’re going to have in public,” Darcy said. “Not where someone can overhear us.”

The twins exchanged a look. “We’re not going to the Tower.”

”Nah, I was thinking the embassy,” Darcy said.

“Why should we trust you?” Wanda asked. “You’ve already threatened by my life.”

Darcy looked her straight in the eye. “I was warning you. My husband is sitting directly behind you. Your brother might have super speed, but you don’t. And his knives are spelled against your kind of energy manipulation.”

Wanda paled. For the first time since Darcy had seen her picture, she actually looked her age. Both kids did. They exchanged another look, then had a very fast conversation in Sokovian. Darcy shrugged at Loki, who only shot her a rather sardonic look. The knife half-hidden had yet to be sheathed. He clearly didn’t trust either of the twins.

Oddly, Darcy did. They were young, forced into a desperate situation, but were clearly at least willing to talk. Or listen, at least. Hopefully. But Darcy liked the girl’s brashness and her conviction and the twins clearly loved each other very much. It raised her hopes that something would come of her mad plan.

After a few minutes of conversation, the twins agreed to go with them. Mostly because Darcy wouldn’t talk any more and Loki was looking tenser by the minute. Darcy caught herself frowning in his direction as they walked down the street. Something was clearly bothering him and he wasn’t sharing. Sometimes she had to drag it out of him, if he was in a good enough mental state for her pushing, but this time she hadn’t noticed anything that would have set him off.

The embassy was only a few blocks away. It might have been easier to take a cab, considering the crowd of people and the length of the blocks they had to walk, but no one really seemed to mind. Darcy got to people watch, Pietro got to work off some of that near-constant energy he had (seriously, he was always fidgeting), Wanda, well, Darcy didn’t know about Wanda yet. There was an odd kind of wariness in her eyes that showed she just didn’t trust the world not to hurt her. And yet... there was still the hope that it wouldn’t.

One of the major problems of this whole plan was actually getting the twins inside the embassy. Darcy and Loki could not figure out a more neutral ground that was actually secure. The Tower was right out. A hotel was definitely neutral but the thought of it profoundly disgusting given the kids were minors and not at all secure. So the embassy it was and Darcy doubted herself the whole way to the secure room given how close the twins were walking. Wanda’s hand had clenched onto Pietro’s and she hadn’t let go at all.

Once inside the room with the door shut, the twins sat on the sofa closest to the door and as far away from Darcy and Loki as possible. They still held hands. Darcy settled in an overstuffed chair and waited for Loki to decided where to sit. Or stand, as he decided to settle against the back wall and stare at them. Darcy rested her head against the chair and stayed silent.

“What do you want with us?” Pietro finally asked. Wanda remained a pale and silent ghost clinging to her brother.

“To not kill Tony Stark,” Darcy said. “We need him alive.”

”And your other so-called allies?” Wanda said with a loud scoff. “Do you all not understand what Stark is? He cannot see the difference between saving the world and ending it.”

“Is that what you showed him in Sokovia?” Loki said softly. Dangerously. Darcy stiffened. So that was what was bothering him. The girl and her powers.

“I showed him his fear,” Wanda said with a trace of pride. “I knew it would control him, cause him to self-destruct.”

Silence reigned in the room. Darcy really wanted to have chosen a different seat. Her husband was behind her and his anger made him unpredictable. Then there were the twins in front of her and she had no clue how they’d react to Loki losing his temper. And if Wanda made even one move to go after Loki mentally, she’d have a knife through her throat before her powers would touch him.

Okay. Her goal right now was to avoid murder. Got it. Easier thought than done, though.

“He’s already on that path,” Darcy said. She held up her hands palm forward when Wanda snapped around, finally dropping her brother’s hand. “You’re just trying to push him further along it. I want to know why.”

Wanda shot her an absolutely scathing look. “It is because of him that our parents are dead. You have no idea-” She broke off, visibly upset.

“We were ten years old, having dinner, the four of us,” Pietro chimed in. His voice one of one compressed rage. “And the first shell hits two floors below, makes a hole in the floor. It was big. Our parents fell in. And the whole building starts coming apart. I grab my sister and roll under the bed. And the second shell hits. But... it doesn’t go off.” His voice softens. Wanda reached for his hand again, looking as if she is trying not to cry. “Just sits there in the rubble. Three feet from our faces.” Their eyes are haunted. “And on the side of the shell is painted one word.”

”Stark.” Wanda’s voice cracked when she spoke.

“We were trapped two days,” Pietro said after a moment.

Wanda began again, her voice stronger. “Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks I think ‘this will set it off’.” Then it hardens into rage. “We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us.”

There was nothing, _nothing_ Darcy could say to that. She stared at the twins in horror. They met her gaze with anger and condemnation. They knew and were friends with the man who had tried to kill them as children. No wonder they wanted revenge. They had nothing left.

“So that’s why your survived,” Loki said. He wandered to Darcy’s chair and leaned against it with arms crossed over his chest. “I had wondered why two children volunteered themselves to be experimented upon would do so well when no one else survived.” A mocking smile curved his mouth. “A pity you have no further ambitions.”

“Ambitions!” Wanda leapt to her feet. “I do not need ambition when that man is walking this earth alive when he is the cause of so much pain. That is my ambition. To save this world from Stark.”

Her hands flowed with red energy. Darcy could not help but compare it to the Aether. It looked so similar. The Infinity Stones. Every single damn thing led back to those damned stones.

“And in the process, you will destroy it,” Loki said.

“I do not see how one man can prevent the destruction of-”

Loki moved. Before Wanda or Pietro understood what was happening, Loki slammed his hand against Wanda’s forehead. She gasped. They stood utterly still. Pietro slammed into Loki, separating the two. Darcy kicked him off Loki. Pietro snarled, then blurred over to his sister. Darcy offered Loki her hand. He took it with a grimace. One arm remained wrapped around his ribs. He straightened with a wince. Mustn’t let anyone see that he was in pain. Pietro had hit hard. They turned towards the twins.

Wanda was bent over, gasping for breath. She looked terrified. Pietro held her up by the shoulders, talking to her in Sokovian. She wrenched away from him and ran to the trash can tucked discreetly beside an end table. She puked into it.

Pietro whirled. “What did you do to my sister?”

“Pietro,” Wanda said. She wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her jacket. “I’m fine.” She looked at Loki as she walked unsteadily over. “We can’t kill Stark.” Then she switched to Sokovian.

Darcy pushed Loki into the chair as the twins talked. He didn’t resist. Good. At least he still retained some sense. Although this conversation really hadn’t gone according to what they’d discussed. Actual discussion of what the twins wanted and why it wasn’t a good idea. Training in both their powers. You know, safety, security, stability. Things the twins needed. She eyed everyone, then rang for a servant to bring them some bottled water and an unopened box of some kind of bland cracker.

She set the tray on the coffee table after the servant delivered it. The twins had moved to the couch, still talking in their native language. Darcy grabbed a bottle and handed it to Loki. He cracked the top and took a sip. She perched on the arm of the chair and took the bottle from him. It apparently blocked the view from the kids enough for Loki to poke at his ribs through his suit jacket. He winced.

“Bruised or broken?” Darcy asked in Asgardian.

“Bruised,” Loki said. He took the bottle back and took another sip. “I’ll sleep it off.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. Asgardians. They talked softly about how things were back at court, remembering Thor’s latest letter. Something about matchmaking women, Fandral, and a scandal involving a horse, a goat, and a cat. Thor had not included the particulars, prompting Loki to muse some type of appropriate revenge. Perhaps involving Jane. It would be good to drag her back to Asgard at some point so the matchmaking mothers would remember Thor was still head over heels for her and wouldn’t ever glance at their daughters.

“So what do you want us to do, then?” Pietro said suddenly. In English.

Darcy’s brain glitched for a moment as she switched languages. She half-turned to look at the twins properly. They still held hands. She took a breath. “That’s a question that you need to answer for yourselves.”

”No,” Wanda said. “Not about Stark. About this madman Thanos. I never- such cruelty.”

That’s when Darcy knew what Loki had done. She reached down and squeezed his limp hand. He’d have nightmares for weeks now after showing Wanda what had happened to him. Why Thanos was more important than Stark.

“Why don’t you do both things?” Darcy asked. “Keep an eye on Stark and protect this planet from Thanos. Of course, you’ll probably have to wait until you turn eighteen and get some training in how to use your powers....”

“And how would we do that?” Pietro asked with a tilt of his head.

“Obvious,” Darcy said with a shrug. “You join the Avengers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some dialogue taken from Avengers: Age of Ultron.


	5. Chapter 5

They called it the Sokovia Accords.

Five months of negotiations, compromises, criminal trials, and way too much shouting and cold shoulders. Five months of refusing to talk to anyone that called her an idiot for defending something so unbelievable. Five months of watching her husband’s hair-trigger PTSD flare uncontrollably. Five months of struggling to keep this fragile thing going. Five months of refusing to let it all crumble to pieces around her.

Eight months since returning to Earth after Frigga’s death in a wild race to find the last of the Infinity Stones to try and keep them out of Thanos’ hands. Darcy carded her hands through Loki’s hair as he slept sprawled across her lap. She rested against the headboard and watched the sun rise. It had been his first full night’s sleep in weeks.

Today they would sign the Accords. Today, the Avengers would sign the Accords. And today, unbeknownst to anyone but the Avengers, the Mind Stone would be given into the safe keeping of Wakanda and its Black Panther. Loki despaired of keeping it on Midgard. But there was nowhere else to turn. The strongest realms and beings in this galaxy already had the keepings of others. But to keep two on Earth was a nightmare. Hence the Accords.

Loki shifted slightly in his sleep, curling slightly and getting off her legs. At last. She wouldn’t begrudge it, but Darcy liked having feeling in her toes and the ability to move her head without it banging into the wooden slats that reached halfway up the walls. She also wasn’t going to get any more sleep tonight. She slid out of bed and walked to the window to look out at the ocean.

They’d moved out of the Tower months ago and found this quiet place. The expense was nothing to them. Darcy felt the twinges of guilt - she suspected she would for decades - because it cost more than probably her parents’ house, her grandparents, and all of the other houses of her entire extended family combined. She was rich now and it was such an odd feeling. But this house was so worth it. The property stretched for ten acres on either side, full of scrub wood and native wildlife. No one disturbed them unless they wished it.

Which was really kind of necessary. It gave room for Pietro to stretch his legs. And for Wanda to have ample space while she learned to actually control her powers. Which was, incidentally, one of the reasons Loki was having so much trouble. Wanda’s powers had a huge mental aspect - not surprising given their ultimate source - and Loki, well, he was not handling that at all well.

Darcy sighed and cracked open the window to let some fresh air and the sound of the waves in. Loki’s breathing eased slightly. She looked at him with a fond smile - God, she loved him - and left the room, gently closing the door behind her.

She padded downstairs, quite mindful she was probably the only person in the place awake, and went into the kitchen to start the coffeepot. It gurgled to life as she waited for the much-needed caffeine. She’s probably have to take a nap later in the morning. Half the night spent awake was not a pleasant thing to consider on such an important day.

She poured her coffee into a mug, then filled the largest travel mug she could find. She left it black and secured the lid. Darcy took her mug out to the living room to curl up on the sofa and watch the waves as the sun continued to climb over the horizon.

Darcy woke to the soft touch of a kiss pressed to the top of her head. She blinked and stretched. She’d fallen asleep. Lovely.

“What time is it?” she asked. Her voice creaked. She needed more coffee.

“Pietro hasn’t returned from his run yet,” Loki said. He sounded rested, for once. Darcy turned to look up at him. And the bags under his eyes weren’t as dark as they’d been for the past month. “I’ve already spoken with the guards. All is quiet on the boundaries.”

Good. The last thing they needed this morning was a disturbance. Aside from the twin’s usual bickering (oh my god, they’d turned eighteen two and a half months ago and why she had thought it meant they would start acting like the adults the law said they were...) and Loki’s habitual snark, and her own twisted sense of humor... really, for a house that held four adults, they really were relatively calm. Well, when they were all here. Darcy jetted across the planet trying to get everyone to sign onto her idea. And Loki fought with the teens they’d practically adopted so they could defend themselves, control, blah, blah, blah. Darcy frowned at her full mug of cold coffee. She could always stick it in the microwave. Maybe then her brain would stop sending error messages in terms of blah.

Seven hours, three cups of coffee, one nap, and two arguments about appropriate clothing later, the four of them were back in New York City. The twins stared up at the UN building and clasped each others’ hands. Darcy leaned against Loki for a moment in comfort of her own, then straightened. Her stomach was all nerves. The twins glanced at her and Loki, then peeled off to go stand with the Avengers. The media was all over them. The flashes from the cameras only intensified when Wanda and Pietro shook Steve’s hands as he officially welcomed them to the team.

“I feel like a mom sending her kids off to school for the first time,” Darcy said.

Loki just gave her that Look. “We’ve done well by them.”

It wasn’t the sentiment she expected to hear. Loki valued actions over words, considering how he used them to create his mischief. But she saw the contentment in his eyes as she watched the twins interact with the original Avengers in public for the first time. Other superheroes from various nations across the world would be formally joining the team today in their new mission. But the twins were what started Darcy on the whole thing.

“I don’t even feel guilt about manipulating everything,” Darcy said as they watched. “For once, I wasn’t doing it in the name of Asgard. It was for the betterment of everyone.”

Loki sighed. “You have the patience for politics neither I nor Thor possess. Why should you feel anything less than proud at the accomplishment of your goal?”

Because aside from her choices in her personal life, she felt like she only reacted to everything instead of making active choices to force a good outcome. Yeah, her personal choices affected the larger picture, but she wasn’t anyone special. No powers, no genius-level abilities. She just cared so much and it felt like nothing compared to what others had to offer. Faith and hope and trust only amounted to so much when there was literally someone out there who wanted to murder half the universe. She didn’t yet know how to explain her jumbled emotions to herself, much less anyone else.

“I’m happy about it,” Darcy finally said.

Still, her doubts haunted her. But today, she pushed them aside. Today was not the day to break down. That could be tomorrow, when everyone had focused on the new superheroes and the Asgardian princess who’d managed to manipulate everyone into agreeing to this whole concept could step into the background.

Or maybe she could break down the day after. Tomorrow seemed like a good day to just grab a book and relax on the beach with her husband beside her. Maybe have a few friends over. She knew Charday and Karissa would jump at the chance. Yes, that sounded like a great idea. They’d been wanting to visit for some time, but things had just not worked out. But this time - there’s be late September sunshine, the smell of salt air, laughter. Maybe they could even invite Thor. He’d love the chance to barbecue. Darcy knew Tony was going to have his own party tonight, but she and Loki and the twins had only planned to be there out of PR reasons. Couldn’t exactly celebrate having a new Avengers team and then some of the newbies not show up.

Darcy would rather just spend the time with her eclectic family. She poked Loki. He glanced down and she swiftly told him of her awesome idea. Loki nodded once. Good. He agreed. Tonight was going to be a trial but tomorrow was going to be so much better. She’d get in touch with everyone as soon as this circus calmed down a bit.

So it was with a lighter heart that Darcy watched as the Avengers stepped forward into the world’s eyes with a new mission, new members, and a desperate hope for the future.


End file.
